What's your earliest memory?
I'm always a bit wobbly on my early memories as I never know whether I'm remembering something real or recalling a photo! But I very vividly remember the moments just after accidentally hurting my hands aged about 3. I can still vividly recall being helped by my mum and what my little hands looked like out in front of me. It feels so weird looking at my adult hands but remembering that small part of being very little!
What's the first thing you can remember? How early on in your life did you start to remember events and things?
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When I was about 2 1/2, we were regulars at a Chinese restaurant, the only one for miles as there weren't many around then. I remember the waiter teaching me to use chopsticks & at Easter, he gave me a little chick with a spring neck, holding a little chocolate egg. 😎 There was a pet shop just up the hill from the resto & I used to give the rabbits in there sugar lumps. I presume they thought it fine in the shop, as I did it every time we went. 😄
Funny, in all the years I've been on this planet, I have had more birthday celebrations in a Chinese resto than anywhere else, about 3 1/4s, will be another next month too! 😍
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I remember been stung my a, wasp at school aged 8
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My earliest memory is aged 4 being ejected from my 5-year old sister's slide show for whispering and giggling. We were saying goodbye to friends and neighbours before a move. My mum told me it was HER show and her choice 😪
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I know I don't know all the circumstances but that doesn't seem very fair @WhatThe 😕
That's such a sweet memory @JessieJ. Enjoy your meal out next month (and happy birthday in advance!)
Ouch @Amberpearl, was it during lesson time or outside during a break?
My earliest memory is probably from my 3rd birthday, like you @Rosie_Scope I'm not always sure what is memory and what has been formed from seeing photos but I remember bits of that day that were not in any photos.
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I'm cautious of any memory being 100% accurate. 🤔
I even have a memory of being born! Obviously that can't be real. And there weren't any pictures. It must just have been pieced together from what I've been told over the years.
I do have a few memories from moving house when I was about 4 which probably are real and fairly accurate.
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The next trauma I remember is her putting me in A&E on Christmas morning aged 6. She never liked me much 🤣
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😮
This makes my heart break for 6 year old you (and current you too!) Everyone deserves a safe home and loving parents 😪
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I genuinely don't think I can remember anything before my teen years and most of those memories are hazy. There are some things I know happened but I can't recall anything about them. 🤔
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What is your memory of being born @OverlyAnxious? 😂
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They do say that due to the development of the brain - nobody can genuinely remember things that happened to them before the age of 4 or 5 and any memories are false/brought on by other events/other peoples suggestions !
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I think I read somewhere once that memories are remembering the last time you remembered something and so they change slowly over time. I think it could be very easy for people to create false memories too but I don't know how they would ever test it.
I'd love to know what a 4 year old thinks of house moving, I remember it feeling like an adventure when I was younger, now it seems like a chore!
Oh wow, @WhatThe, I'm so sorry. I'm sure that's a memory you'd much rather forget! 😔
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That's interesting. I wonder if it might be impacted also by how often you access the memory?
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I put my wee brother in the infirmary one Christmas, but it was accidental. We were wrestling, and I broke off the tip of one of his fingers! He had to get a pin inside it and the end sewn back on.
My mum said she would never forgive me if he lost his finger, that was her parting words to me as they hurried out the door. She called a couple of hours later to tell me to get myself fed, he was going to be ok, etc. I had been thoroughly miserable up until then; not any concern for him of course, just contemplating my forthcoming punishment. 😉
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I liked yours @ChrisR777, for the last line! 😆 Hope your brother coped well after & your punishment wasn't too bad.
I also remember swallowing a sixpence when I was about 3. Mum & dad were sat at the table & I went to them. I don't remember what I said for them to know, but I remember being whisked off to the hospital & having an x-ray. Mum was told all was okay & it would pass & it did, I still have it somewhere & the silver is pretty colours. 🤣
Also getting lost in Woolies at about 3, a lady that worked there took me to their staff room, they gave me a toy & sweets. 😎 Mum & nan eventually realised as they came to get me, I didn't want to go home! 😂
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I was good at getting lost too, I remember being lost for hours at Butlins, they were getting close to dredging the canal by the time I was found! I don't think my mum was able to enjoy the rest of the holiday.
it was for my maternal grandfather's official retirement ( Although he has to be dragged into actual retirement aged 77), and they had paid for the entire family to go away together. I was only 7, but still have some great memories of that holiday.
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In a single hospital room, snow falling outside the window, can even hear the music playing on the tape my Mum brought with her! (I was awkward even at that age, had to be removed by C-sec).
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Yes, that sounds about right. I think people also tweak memories to make themselves appear in a better light. I've had relatives talk about a past event very differently to the way I remember the same event! 🤔
Most memories of the house move are actually quite mundane things. I can remember helping to wash down internal walls. Watching a basic ceiling light be replaced with a chandelier style light. Having to run away from a wasps nest that was in a pile of dirt in the garden. I can also remember being sat on a bed in an otherwise empty room, no sheets on it, and being told "this is your new room now" in those exact words… I don't know whether that one is real or accurate, but it seems an odd thing to make up if not!
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Wow @OverlyAnxious, the human brain is so fascinating!! Do you have any other memories from those days?
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I don't think so. There's a big gap between then and the house move 4 years later. Interestingly I can't actually remember the inside of the first house directly. I've seen it in pictures but don't have a single direct memory from it which seems strange now I think about it.
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